Finger Fight
by The Green Pilgrim
Summary: Rachel narrates. Jake engages in a serious battle. Cassie saves the day. Tobias and Ax just kind of sit there. And there was much rejoicing.


A/N: All right, I did it. I finally did it. I wrote an Animorphs fanfiction, something that's been threatening to occur for a while.

This is just a short, simple, dumb piece, inspired by two boys I know and something they like to do to pass the time.

Disclaimer: Don't own it, although while writing about Cassie I can't help but feel like I referring to myself in the third person.

Finger Fight

It was a long and vigorous battle, and I could not see it ending any time soon. There was minimum bloodshed and only minor injury on both sides, but this made it no less intense or somewhat sickening to watch. Jake snarled fiercely at his opponent and lunged, plunging the two to the ground with him on top, clearly at the advantage. For a moment I held my breath, wondering if he might win. But in a flash his opponent had flipped him over on his back, knees pressed into Jake's chest and a triumphant look in his eyes.

I was relieved to see Cassie enter at last, although her expression was decidedly horrified.

"Rachel, what… what are they doing?" she asked me, sounding amazed.

I rolled my eyes and looked back towards the barn floor where Jake and Marco were rolling around like overgrown puppies. Their two right hands were interlocked, each with an index finger pointed straight out towards the other.

"'Finger fight'," I explained, wrinkling my nose. The battle had been reduced to a blur of flying limbs and hay. Did they have any idea how totally gross the floor in this barn was?

Cassie blinked, her expression one of mild concern. "It looks dangerous," she said.

"It looks _stupid_," I clarified.

The two were standing again, growling and grunting and each trying their hardest to poke the other.

A 'finger fight' is some stupid boy game in which if you poke the other guy before he pokes you then you win. It sounds harmless, but you'd only think that if you'd never seen one in action. Especially between Marco and Jake. You'd think they were in the middle of an intense clash with Hork Bajir controllers or something. I glanced out the door, wondering when Tobias and Ax would show up. Maybe then the boys would get serious.

Several empty cages went crashing to the ground (to Cassie's dismay). Yeah right, like either one would pull out of this fight before it was over. I couldn't understand how it had gone on so long. How hard was it to _poke _some one?

"I've almost got you!" a surprisingly feral voice that I recognized as my cousin's called. Marco responded in turn. They were both completely covered in mud.

It was an amazing thing, really. Looking at the two of them, jumping and rolling around like that. You'd never think they had the weight of the world on their shoulders. You'd never guess for a second that the big blond kid (currently laughing as Marco performed an almost ballerina-like twirl in an attempt to poke him in the shoulder) was the leader of Earth's only protection against total domination. If you did think that, you'd probably also think you had very good reason to be concerned about your future.

But I know better.

"I think I'm going to break this up now," Cassie said. I recognized that gleam in her eye and knew this was going to be good.

"Jake?" she asked, her voice dripping sugar. I held in a snort. That was the first (and probably last) time I ever heard Cassie talk like that. The effect on the boys (particularly Jake) was immediate as they both froze completely to stare at her.

"Uh… yeah, Cassie?" Jake asked. He was covered in mud and God-knows-what-else and hay stuck out of his hair and clothes at random. I couldn't help but think that, with her fashion sense, Cassie probably found it attractive.

"You look tired. Let me cut in," she requested. My eyes must have bugged out. Cassie? Calm, good-natured, Cassie engaged in a finger fight with Marco?

I barely noticed as Ax arrived in human morph, Tobias swooping in and assuming his perch in the rafters. They were both silent, as if they too could sense that something important was going on.

Jake immediately gave up his place, allowing Cassie to step in and grip Marco's hand (which was not only gross like the rest of him, but probably sweaty. Yuck.)

And the battle began, just like the first one had. They were both standing, feet planted, and arms working wildly to try to hit the other. Marco headed into it with renewed intensity, probably thinking something stupid and big-headed like "losing to a girl will make me look bad!" I noticed it happening before he did, maybe even before anyone else did.

Cassie's finger ever-so-slowly became shorter, and sharper. Her fingernails and joints disappeared, some parts melding together completely. Her brown skin darkened to black, and the morph raced up her arm which was growing thinner and spindlier by the minute.

It took Marco about three seconds to realize he was now finger-fighting with a cockroach leg.

"Gaaah!" he cried, ripping his fingers away and staring at Cassie in horror. My heart swelled with pride as she took her new limb and serenely poked him in the chest.

"Touché," she said firmly.

Marco looked stunned, Jake laughed out loud while Tobias laughed in that strange telepathic way, and Ax exclaimed happily about Cassie's bizarre talent for morphing. I grinned, watching them all, and tried not to wonder whether this was the last time we could all stand together and laugh.


End file.
